Inter-Dimensional Portal
by Cassodembreankia
Summary: 'There isn't a ****ing Inter-Dimensional Vortex behind every piece of furniture,' Dan informed the camera. His viewers would see it later. He'd been 'dropping things behind things' for years and later finding stuff when he or Phil decided to rearrange the furniture. But he didn't know how wrong he was about that. (T for mild language and violence)(Romantic undertones)(No slash)
1. Prologue

'There isn't a ****ing Inter-Dimensional Vortex behind every piece of furniture!' Dan informed the camera. His viewers would see it later. He'd been 'dropping things behind things' for _years_ and later finding stuff when he or Phil decided to rearrange the furniture. He knew for a fact that there weren't hidden portals laced through his flat. Though that still didn't quite explain the sock goblins.

Oh. He didn't know how wrong he was.

* * *

The New Year was in full-swing. It was that time when people started losing motivation to actually achieve their resolutions and the gym's car park's crowd started to dwindle (for example).

On what should have been an uneventful morning, Dan woke up at about ten-fifteen to the very loud _CLANG _of Phil dropping a saucepan in the kitchen. He instantly planned on going back to sleep in his cocoon of warmth, but something in the back of his mind—that was probably just Phil's grunt of pain indicating the pan had landed on his toe—told him it was time to get up. Maybe it was that vision of himself demanding to know if he was a wuss. Which he _wasn't_.

With a moan of complaint, he rolled off his mattress and crashed ungracefully to the floor. Disentangling himself from the sheets and covers, he got up and picked out some clothes, having showered the night before after somehow ending up covered in glue. Black jeans coupled with the stupid belt that never worked, mismatched socks, Converse the same color as his trousers, and one of his many black T-shirts—he didn't quite get a good look at it because he wasn't paying attention but he was pretty sure it was the one with stars near the collar.

'Good morning,' Phil greeted as Dan staggered into the kitchen with one eye closed against the light and rubbing the other one where it was still heavy with sleep.

'Whoever says the morning is "good" should be forced to prove it,' he grumbled.

Phil rolled his eyes. 'Sounds like _someone_ didn't sleep very well,' he remarked sarcastically, putting the saucepan back on the rack and rummaging through the cupboards for cereal, mugs, spoons and bowls.

Dan nodded. 'Sounds about right.'

'Why didn't you sleep well?' There was more humour than concern in Phil's voice.

'Really weird dream,' Dan replied, shaking his head to try and knock some normality back into it. Phil's eyebrows lifted a bit higher.

'What was it about?' he asked.

'It was one of those nights where I was asleep and dreaming, but also awake and thinking. So it mostly consisted of Doctor Who, Pokémon, a band concert, Delia Smith doing the Macarena, and a lot of other celebrities doing bizarre things. Also me riding a llama through Manchester,' Dan answered, groggily pouring cereal into his bowl. Phil was quite visibly trying not to snicker. 'Go ahead and laugh. It really sounds kinda funny when you say it like that.'

'Yeah, it does,' Phil agreed with a smirk.

Dan leaned his head back to stretch his neck. Several of the vertebrae popped. It felt pretty good. 'I don't like dreams like that. I don't feel rested at _all_,' he complained, stumbling—carefully—out of the kitchen and into the lounge with his cereal and mug (that he didn't realize was empty because he was so tired) in his hands. Phil didn't tell his flatmate that the mug was empty because he wanted to see Dan's reaction when he took a swallow and found out that he forgot to fill it. That would be amusing. Maybe he'd get out his phone to film it when Dan wasn't looking…

The TV was already playing the World News, but with a tired grunt Dan bumped the remote with his elbow and switched it to the DVD input. 'What's in?' he asked, pressing play. The _Lord of the Rings_ theme started drifting quietly from the speakers as _Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring_ popped up. 'Oh, lovely!'

As soon as Dan finished his cereal he'd fallen asleep again in his sofa crease with the bowl on his lap—the hobbits hadn't even gotten to Rivendell yet. Phil snorted and wondered if he should doodle on Dan's face with a felt tip and post a picture on Twitter. He eventually decided against it after a good five minutes of debating and went off to the kitchen to clean up his breakfast. And to be a good friend, he took Dan's bowl with him (partially because if Dan moved in his sleep he'd knock the bowl off his lap and spill residual milk all over the sofa).

At around eleven-twenty-five Dan woke himself up. Shaking his head again, he reached for his mug and lifted it to his face. Tilting it back, his waiting mouth was greeted with… nothing. 'Did I _forget_ to fill my mug?' he demanded.

Phil started laughing from in front of the fireplace. 'You were really tired,' was all he said.

Dan sighed. 'Right. Well now that I've suffered _that_ early disappointment, I'm going to go tidy my room because there are shirts everywhere, and then I'm going to do… something. Probably browse Tumblr or something.'

When he reached his room, he started to put his T-shirts back in his wardrobe—not as nicely as he could have done, but he was still pretty fatigued—when he caught sight of a random miscellaneous plastic object near the headboard of his bed. Still feeling exhausted, he picked it up and dropped it behind the bedside cabinet with a sigh instead of putting it in his drawer of miscellaneous crap.

'Oi!' a voice exclaimed after a moment.

Dan about jumped out of his skin. 'What the—‽' he exclaimed loudly, pulling the cabinet away from the wall with an extremely lost expression on his face.

'You okay?' Phil asked, poking his head around the door.

Dan was completely frozen in both shock and utter confusion. He had good reason to be.

Where there was usually a normal bit of wall, a purple vortex was spinning, glittering with stars like the cheesy wallpaper pictures they used in their videos. Dan stared at it with the violet reflecting on his dark brown eyes. Phil came a little farther into the room to better examine what had his friend so completely perplexed.

Before Phil could do anything, Dan pitched forward—seemingly involuntarily—and went down the vortex tube. 'Pppppppphhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllll!' his voice shouted. 'What the—' Some other noise drowned out whatever word came next. '—is going on‽'

As much as Phil didn't want to get closer to the freaking magic thing on Dan's bedroom wall, Dan was his best friend and he owed it to him to take a peek. He took a few tentative steps…

And promptly tripped on the Pikachu Dan had left lying on the floor.

'Great,' he mumbled.

His head was in the vortex.

Before he could try and scramble away, he was spinning down a tube with weird lights and purple colours headfirst. He could feel his stomach churn as he got dizzy. This was definitely not the start to the day he was hoping for. What in the name of Delia Smith was happening‽

* * *

**End Note: I've had this in my head for a long time. Because I'm pretty sure there actually _is_ a portal behind every piece of furniture, because if _I_ drop something behind something else, it disappears forever.**

**This is the prologue so it's in third-person, but the rest of the story will be in first-person.**

**Hope y'all liked the references. I'm American, but I'm trying to make it sound as British as possible. Also, being American, the word "bloody" isn't vulgar (doesn't really mean anything actually), but I know it is in Britain, so this is rated T for uses of it in later chapters.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Cass**

**PS: I know in British books they use 'this kind' of quotation marks for dialogue instead of "this kind," so for the chapters from the British POV (it switches off - fair warning) it will be 'this kind' but for the American chapters it will be "this kind." Just thought I'd mention so people don't get too confused. Love you all!**


	2. Chapter 1: Cass

**Author's Note: So, I decided to put up another chapter early in case anyone actually cares. And because I LOVE this story. This is the first American chapter, so I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

_Cass_

* * *

"I believe _this_ belongs to _you_," I remarked to the newcomers, flicking the little plastic thing that hit me in the head at the one with the lighter hair—who had come through first. Both the young men were lying face-down on the floor. He grabbed it and looked at it. I couldn't see his face very well, but I was pretty sure his eyebrows scrunched.

"I don't own a plastic llama," he remarked. It was my turn to scrunch my eyebrows. His accent… his voice… was eerily familiar.

"Well, you do now," I commented.

He must have gotten curious as to who was sassing him, because he finally looked up. I saw his fringe first. I recognized the style, the color, and the straight hairs. But I knew that his hair naturally was quite a bit curlier. Next I saw his eyes. Dark brown, and constantly swimming with sarcasm and humor. The rest of his face followed and I felt about ready to faint.

How on Earth was Dan in front of me‽

After Dan, I knew what to expect when the other one with black hair recovered from the shock of falling through the portal. Similar hairstyle with the fringe flipped the other way, round blue-green eyes that always seemed pretty happy, bright, and amused, and a face as familiar to me as my own.

Phil.

Dan and Phil had just crashed into the room.

"Who're you?" Dan asked.

"My name is Cass," I answered shortly.

"Hello Cass. We're—"

"Dan Howell and Phil Lester. Yes, I know," I interrupted.

"You're American," Dan put in.

"How? How do you know us?" Phil inquired.

Smirking, I curled my tongue back, pressed two fingers from each hand to it, and let out a long, high-pitched, sharp whistle. Both of them recoiled away from the sound. "Yes, I am American," I added.

The door to the room creaked open and two of my best friends walked in.

"Dan, Phil, I'd like you to meet Dan and Phil," I introduced.

"Wait… what?" Dan-on-the-floor asked.

"Ever heard of the multi-verse theory?" my Dan inquired.

"Yeah," other Dan edged carefully. "The theory that every decision you make branches off into a parallel universe. But there's no such thing—unless you're talking about _Doctor Who_." I started chuckling, much to the newcomers' distaste.

"If that were true, one set of us wouldn't be here," I informed him.

"No, no, no. We're not in an alternate dimension," other Dan snapped. "There isn't an inter-dimensional portal behind every piece of furniture!"

"Of course there isn't," my Phil put in. "You have to wait for us to turn them on. _Then_ there is."

"What?" other Dan asked.

"Yeah. We're the one that turns on the portals. They _can_ be anywhere, but generally we like to hide them behind furniture where no one will see them," I explained. "Of course, occasionally we mess up and end up putting a portal in a sock drawer, but—" Other Dan threw up his hands to stop me, climbing to his feet.

"Are you saying that _you guys_ are the ones constantly making my socks disappear‽" he demanded. I glanced up at the ceiling.

"Yeah, I guess. It's not our fault. Aiming into alternate realities isn't exactly like a first-person game where the shot goes right where the crosshairs show it should and you can snipe anything you want. It's quite a bit harder and if we miss, maybe a pair of socks falls through. Sorry," I explained. A smirk spread up my features. "Bit more logical than 'sock goblins' isn't it?" Other Dan's face went completely slack with what looked like confusion.

"How did you know about that?"

"Portals behind furniture send more than just matter between dimensions," my Dan put in. "We can hear everything you say from the one hiding behind your wardrobe." Other Dan looked like he didn't quite know how to react. "It's actually been kind of funny."

"Of course, sound can get a little distorted so we didn't know you were us," my Phil added. Other Phil pulled himself to his feet and looked at the three of us. "But this has been a pleasant surprise."

A siren started wailing. "Oh cuss," I muttered. I looked between my friends and their alternate versions. "We gotta get down. Follow me." I ran across the dark room to the closet and opened it. The other Dan and Phil looked confused. "Look, no time to explain, just follow me," I insisted, punching the back of the closet until the wood opened to reveal the steps behind it.

"What's going on?" other Phil asked.

"It's nighttime," my Dan put in, ducking into the stairwell and pulling me after him. My Phil sent the two doppelgangers down before he brought up the rear and closed both sets of doors—the closet doors and then the hidden doors that led to the stairs.

"What? No. It's mid-morning," other Phil protested.

"Not here," I retorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" other Dan demanded. I realized he was right behind me and I was in a Dan-sandwich. Wonderful.

I pulled my Dan to a stop and whirled around the face the alternates. "It means that if we don't keep going, we'll all be incinerated," I spat.

"Oh," other Dan and Phil chorused. I nudged my Dan to go onward. We kept running down the steps. There were probably fifty of them, leading deep into the earth. Any smaller distance would leave us feeling unpleasantly scorched—which quite obviously wasn't something we wanted.

It didn't take us long to get to the bottom, and when we did, we sealed the five of us into the bunker. "When can we go home?" other Phil asked. "What's going on?"

"Assuming all of us survive the night we can get you home in the morning. The portals don't work after sundown," my Phil answered.

"But who knows? You might want to stay and explore for an extra day," my Dan commented.

"That's not likely," I commented.

"Why not?" other Dan asked. I felt myself smirking.

"Here be dragons," I retorted.

* * *

**End Note: Confused? Probably. If something was unclear, give me a review and ask for clarification and I'll work on getting it fixed! To "callieandjack": Despite the typo, I loved the review. Thanks for always being my faithful friend and reviewer!**

**So, how would you like to be in a Dan-sandwich? I think it would be great. One Dan a loyal, war-worn (but still nerdy) survivor, and the other the lerpy, dorky, socially awkward danisnotonfire we all know and love. While I'm on this subject, I am extremely American. I've left the country once. So if the British chapter doesn't sound particularly British, I am _so, so, so __intensely_ sorry. Everything I know about British culture and stuff comes from Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Dan and Phil.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Cass**


	3. Chapter 2: Dan

**Author's Note: Hey, so this is the first British chapter (after the prologue). I'm sorry if I missed something that is different to how Americans say it. I'm really trying my hardest.**

* * *

_Dan_

* * *

'What?' I asked. Cass snickered.

'I went into your world for an entire summer once. I found a post on a website called Tumblr that said "I'm in love with two people. One is you. The other is also you, but from an alternate timeline with dragons",' she said. 'And there you basically have this entire dimension in a nutshell. We're the exact same as your world, but we have dragons. And they currently like to torch the surface of the Earth after sunset because some _idiot_ decided it would be a good idea to try and wage war on them.'

The bunker we were in was dark. The Phil who had walked in when Cass whistled turned on a couple lanterns in the corners to reveal about ten sleeping bags and blow-up mattresses.

'Take your pick,' the other me suggested. 'The other seven people who used to live down here with us either got killed in last month's biggest attack or moved to other bunkers.' Cass put her hand on my arm to get my attention. I had to look down quite a bit to see her. She probably wasn't much taller than five-foot-one. She was kind of adorable to be honest. Deep-set almond-shaped brown eyes darker than mine, long _thick_ brown hair about the same shade as mine, a splash of freckles across her nose, full-ish lips, and a triangle of chicken pox scars just below her lower lip on the left side. Soft cheekbones and a round face added to her face and made it difficult to determine her age. Height-wise she looked like she was twelve years old, but there was a maturity in her face that made her look like she was twenty-one. Her long hair was in a braid drawn over one shoulder. Her eyes were serious because of the situation, but I could see something bright hiding behind them.

'You'll want to get some sleep,' she informed me. 'It'll be a long night.'

'But we just woke up,' Phil pointed out.

'Alright then. You two can take the first watch. If it sounds like a dragon is going to get through that door, I want you to wake us all up, you hear?' Cass demanded.

'Yes ma'am,' I replied sarcastically. She gave me a glare and went over to the smallest air mattress in the bunker. With her back to us she unzipped her leather jacket. Snagging a set of pyjamas, she disappeared behind a curtain near the far wall for a few minutes as other me and other Phil just changed normally.

After a moment Cass came back out in fleece trousers and a high-necked spaghetti-strap tank top. Without even a 'good night' she climbed into her sleeping bag and rolled so her back was to us. Only a few moments passed before she was relaxed and fast asleep.

The other me came and sat next to me on the floor where we were watching the thick steel door. 'She's just been taking this whole war pretty hard,' he explained. 'She was only supposed to be in London for a few weeks. Then the Dragon War started and all the airports shut down. She wasn't allowed to go home to see her family.' He sent her a sad glance over his shoulder. 'It's been hard on all of us, but she's taken it the worst, I think.'

'How long has this war been going on?' I asked.

'Just a year. But that's a long time to be separated from one's family when you're just a teenager,' the other Phil put in, coming over and sitting on the other side of Phil.

'How old is she?' Phil asked.

'She's eighteen now. She was seventeen when she first came here.'

'Poor kid,' I muttered.

Something made the bunker rumble around us. 'What the—‽' Phil exclaimed, looking around wildly. The others of us chuckled.

'That, my friend, was a dragon,' other me informed him.

A roar could be heard through the many feet of rock that separated us from the surface. 'Holy…' I trailed off before I could quite finish my thought. The roar drowned out everything, including Phil's sneeze.

'So when did you meet her?' Phil asked.

'We met her when the war started. As soon as the first dragon came from Scotland, panic started. Everyone was scrambling everywhere. We litrally crashed into her on the road,' other me answered. 'She was just stood there and we just… hit her. And then we somehow became friends. We've just sort of been stuck together.'

* * *

Several hours later, the other Dan and Phil had gone to sleep and Cass was waking up to take the second watch just as I was starting to get sleepy. She was pushing herself into an upright position when something caught the lantern-light.

On the right side of her back near where her neck met her shoulder was a twisted scar.

It was shaped like a dragon.

'Cass? What is that?' I asked curiously.

'Nothing,' she snapped shortly.

'No, really, what is it?' Phil put in.

'It's not anything. Let it go,' she ordered, reaching up with her left hand across her body and hiding the scar under her fingers. With her other hand she grabbed her leather jacket and yanked it on over her tank top. 'Good night boys. Get some sleep.' She pulled her braid from where it dangled between her shoulder blades and put it over her shoulder Elsa-style and sat down in front of us. Her jacket collar was too high for either of us to look at the scar so we stood up and went to choose a place to sleep. We chose the two farthest away from the others. It was kind of perturbing.

It was hard to sleep. I got so twisted up in the sleeping bag that I felt like a freaking mummy. It sounded like Phil was _out_ like a light, so it was just me and Cass awake.

* * *

I must have dropped off sometime because at some point I was being woken up. _Well, that was a weird dream,_ my mind remarked to me. _Never having cocoa before bed ever again._ I'd dreamt that Phil and me had ended up in an alternate reality by falling through a portal behind my bedside table where we met alternate versions of us along with an American girl named Cass who had a weird scar on her back. There were also dragons apparently but I never saw them.

'Dan! Wake up!' That was Phil. It was probably one in the afternoon and he figured it was time to get me up so I didn't completely waste daylight.

A hand was on my shoulder, shaking me. 'Dan! If you don't get up we can't get you home.'

That most definitely was _not_ Phil. It was a young female voice with an American accent glaring me right in the face.

Cass.

I groaned. 'You mean it wasn't a dream?'

''Fraid not,' Cass remarked. 'C'mon. The sun should be up by now.' She was already dressed in black cargo trousers and the black leather jacket from before. Her hair had been brushed and re-braided. She glanced over her shoulder at her Dan and Phil where they were tying their shoes. The Phil I knew was pulling his left shoe on, right shoe already tied.

'Reckon we ought to get to the surface first?' other Dan asked.

'Yeah. It'll be easier to put the portal in the right spot,' Cass answered.

I managed to disentangle myself from the sleeping bag and get my shoes back on. Cass was pulling something out from a panel in the wall. It looked really weird. I couldn't even describe it. Except it was black and almost like a drinks' cooler mixed with a cannon.

'Let's go,' other Dan said, holding his hand out for Cass. She passed him the weird device and opened the steel door, peering out.

'It's clear. Let's go.'

The five of us went jogging up the stairs—me being a bit slower so I didn't trip because _I would trip_—and we went back into the room where Phil and I ended up when we first showed up in this bizarre alternate dimension.

'Does anyone else feel like something's not right?' other Phil asked. Cass's eyes passed between the two sets of me and Phil (I would never get used to that).

'Yup. Then again, nothing's felt right since those two showed up,' she remarked, nodding her head at us.

We kept moving until we made it outside.

Cass froze.

'Well crap,' she said.

* * *

**End Note: Sorry for the mild cliffhanger, but I'm going out-of-town for a week and will be separated from my computer so... no new chapter during that time. Or probably the week after because I'll be catching up on school work and all the stuff. Enjoy though! **

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Cass**


	4. Chapter 3: Cass

**Author's Note: Sorry this took a while. I suck at updating on a good schedule - just like Dan and uploading his videos! But I was listening to the William Tell Overture after watching the new _Lone Ranger_ with Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer and I thought, "Might as well update a chapter or two." So here I am. Hope you enjoy! This chapter is from the American's POV, just a heads up.**

* * *

_Cass_

* * *

I looked around. "Well, it looks like you're going to have to stay another day," I told other Dan and Phil.

"You don't say," Dan retorted sarcastically.

The darkness hadn't lifted. It was still night. I glanced at my watch. It was seven-fifteen in the morning. It didn't matter if it was Daylight Savings Time or not, the sun was generally up by seven. There wasn't even a trace up in the sky of dawn. "What's going on?" other Phil asked.

"The dragons. They must have brought in…" I paused. "The great Russian Spark must have brought in a Shadow Dragon from the Chilean caves. They breathe darkness. And the portal shooter won't work in the darkness. Great." I glanced over at my four companions. "Are you alright Dan?" I asked the other Dan. He was looking a bit distressed. He gave me a very tentative nod.

"I don't like the dark," he informed me.

"He's a bit scared of it," other Phil added. I nodded understandingly.

"Don't blame you," I remarked. "Darkness is where the imagination thrives. It feeds off the shadows and fills them with things you'd never think of in the light."

"You sound like that doesn't bother you," other Dan muttered.

"It doesn't," I replied. "I love the darkness. I find it comforting. Or at least, I did. Until the war started and most of the attacks came at night. Now the shadows hold more danger than they ever did when I was growing up." I turned around and headed back inside. If it was dark, that meant there were still dragons out and that meant we'd get eaten or barbequed. Neither of those sounded like fun options so I pulled the two sets of Dan and Phil back inside.

The five of us sat in a circle in the dark room. Dan was sitting next to Dan on one side of me and Phil sat next to Phil on my other side. I could see other Dan whispering to my Dan about something. When I was younger I probably wouldn't have known what they were talking about, but I'd learned how to lip-read when I was about sixteen and I got pretty good at it.

_What's the story behind Cass's scar?_ Other Dan asked.

_When she was a kid her best friend was a dragon: an American Fire Dragon,_ my Dan replied.

"Back then, dragons and us lived in complete and utter peace. Now one idiot ruined that for everyone," I said. Both of them turned to look at me. As did both Phils. I turned around and pulled off my jacket before pushing the collar of my shirt down to show the scar.

"So what's the story?" Phil inquired.

"It's not very common for a dragon to hatch the same time as a human is born, but if it happens, they manage to find each other and bond. Scars don't grow as we do. When I was a child, this covered quite a bit more of my back. I got it from the dragon I bonded with. His name was Eldrid. I was about two when he gave it to me. He was two as well, but a two-year-old dragon is far more mature than a two-year-old human. He did it with one of his talons."

"Do you miss him?"

"Yeah. Had the war not started and the airport had still shut down for some reason, he would have flown across the Atlantic to pick me up. He's a sweetheart. He's one of my best friends on the planet aside from these two." I nodded to either side of me at my Dan and Phil.

"Why'd he give it to you?" Dan asked. "Can I touch it?"

"You may. He gave it to me to show that he'd always be there for me. He could've given me a necklace or jewelry, but those break. It didn't hurt that bad. But I was two, so I cried."

"So it's pretty much been there your whole life," other Dan remarked.

"Yup."

"So why did you make a big deal out of it last night?" other Phil inquired.

"We're in the middle of a flippin' _war_ with dragons," I reminded them.

"I suppose that would make sense," other Phil commented.

"Sorry we brought it up."

"It's alright. I understand curiosity," I replied.

"Cass, how are we going to get them home?" my Dan asked me. I sighed and leaned back until my spine was resting against the wall.

"I don't know. In all likelihood we'd have to get rid of the frickin' Shadow Dragon. I doubt the Russian Spark would just let it go home if he wants it here. I don't particularly fancy the thought of killing a dragon though. But we got to get them home before some of the others come and see that there are two of you. Do you have any idea what Colonel Grumpy-Cat would do if he saw two Dans and two Phils?" I honestly couldn't remember the colonel's actual first name but he was literally always grouchy.

"Aside from have an aneurism?" my Phil joked.

"Yes."

"I don't want to know," my Dan put in.

"_I still don't understand this world!_" other Dan exclaimed. Other Phil snorted.

"You're not from here. I don't blame you," I remarked. "You're from the non-magical, dragon-less world. This place is weird for those who have never been. But we'll get you home as soon as possible. No more dragons and wars for you."

"Will we get to _see_ a dragon?" the other Phil asked curiously.

"The problem with having no _light_ because of a _Shadow Dragon_," my Dan retorted with liberal amounts of sarcasm pouring into his voice. "Is that it's _extremely_ difficult to see _anything_."

A rumble shook the walls. My Dan put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me onto his lap as dust drifted down and part of the roof threatened to collapse right where I was sitting. I noticed out of the corner of my eye the other Dan giving me a very skeptical look. I did my best not to glare at him and just pretend I didn't see his quizzical expression.

"Are you two… in a relationship?" he asked.

* * *

**End Note: Probably not everything you dreamed it would be, but trust me, it starts picking up soon. I promise.**

**Thank you so much for reading!**

**~Cass**

**PS, does _anyone_ find the interrobangs I put in here mildly amusing? I use it as a reference to... _AmazingDan 2_ I believe.**


	5. Chapter 4: Dan

**Author's Note: This is early, but I got sick over the weekend, and it felt like I should update something. And this was the first thing I opened. So enjoy another chapter from Dan's POV!**

* * *

_Dan_

* * *

That probably wasn't the most delicate way to put it, but I just didn't care. I watched Cass's eyebrows rocket up her forehead and her black-brown eyes slightly widen with the initial shock of the ludicrous-ness of the question. Other me looked surprised and a bit startled.

'Umm…' For the first time since I met her, Cass seemed at a complete loss for words.

'No,' other me answered carefully. 'The three of us take care of each other, that's all.'

Something in me was wondering if I 'shipped' it. And the part of me that was exceedingly sarcastic just had to poke fun at it. 'Uh-huh. Sure,' I remarked. My eyes turned to the Phil from the dragon world sitting on the other side of where Cass was. 'Back me up here. Are these two together?' The Phil I knew was looking at me with an expression that shouted, _What on Earth has come over you‽_

To be honest, I didn't really know. But it _was_ kind of funny.

The other Phil knew my personality well enough to play along. 'Well, I wasn't going to _say_ anything, but now that you mention it…' He trailed off. My identical best friend snickered as the other me and the girl's faces turned indignant. Cass's mouth was hanging open and she looked like she was trying to find something to say, or some way to murder me and turn my bones into weapons she could use against the dragons. I had a brief image of what my epitaph would say. _Here lies Dan, who died because his ship didn't sail._

'You know, I think I see why you'd think that, Dan,' the Phil _I_ knew commented, also playing along.

'What?' the other me demanded.

'Well, it's not like you don't like to play with her hair every couple nights,' the other Phil remarked.

'And it's not like you don't protect her,' my best friend added.

'_I_ don't need to be protected,' Cass snapped.

'You two always talk about the most random topics too. Don't think I haven't heard both of you staying up late chatting about _Doctor Who_ and _Harry Potter_ and _Sherlock_ and whatever,' other Phil continued. Cass rolled her eyes.

'_Doctor Who_, _Harry Potter_, and _Sherlock_ aren't just random topics,' she pointed out.

'Oh no! You're right!' I exclaimed. She gave me a scrunched-eyebrow look that was asking, _Why are you suddenly backing us up? You're the one who started this._ 'Those are things you have in common!' Neither of the two we were roasting said anything, but Cass's face shifted to, _So what's your point?_ 'And having things in common is the base of any relationship!' Instantly the American girl's eyes narrowed and she gave me a threatening glare, climbing off the other Dan's lap. I could see her face turning red in the darkness and she sat back in her spot. I turned to the two Phils. 'Can't you just _imagine_ these two curled up together with mugs of cocoa under a TARDIS blanket marathoning _Merlin_ or playing _Mario Kart_?'

Dragon-Phil smirked and nodded. 'You know what? I can! I think if we met her and the war never started that is _exactly_ what would have happened.' Cass's dark eyes were still scowling at us all as she stood up and started to pace the room, eyes occasionally darting over to the portal cooler-cannon and then at me and normal-Phil.

'Grow up,' she muttered, just loud enough for the three of us to hear. I smirked with a _Not a chance_ gleam in my eyes.

'Or what about them sitting together under some other blanket next to a fire reading _Harry Potter_ to each other?' I suggested. 'Each taking a turn reading a chapter out loud.' Cass told me later—when she was feeling less embarrassed and harassed—that if that were ever to happen between her and a British significant other, she would just let him read it because she thought she'd maul the immersion with her American accent.

'Oh that would be so adorable!' dragon-Phil exclaimed.

'_Please stop!'_ dragon-me moaned, voice muffled by his face in his hands.

'What? You don't like a little joking around?' normal-Phil inquired.

'Unless it's _not_ joking around,' dragon-Phil pointed out with an _implying_ sort of tone. 'I totally think it's canon.' He gave a shrug and a grin that made dragon-Dan slap him upside the head. Dragon-Phil laughed nonchalantly and settled into a more comfortable position.

'I ship it,' I added with a grin and a nod.

By the look on her face, I didn't know how much more of this Cass could take. She looked about ready to murder me with an axe for starting this. To be honest, I couldn't blame her—and maybe I was taking it a bit too far—but it was _funny_. And I was pretty sure that with the war going on between them and the dragons there wasn't a lot of 'funny' going around. Being silly certainly relieved the tension.

Before the three of us could add anything more, Cass rolled her eyes and stormed out the door into the darkness.

'Cass!' dragon-me shouted at the top of his lungs, launching to his feet and running after her. 'You can't go out there right now! The dragons are still attacking!' Dragon-Phil jumped up to join dragon-Dan and ran out the door too, leaving me and normal-Phil sitting in the room that was completely bare except for the closet-entrance to the underground bunker where we spent the night. I glanced over at Phil, looking slightly confused. He shrugged. 'Cass!' dragon-me was shouting out through the shadows.

'Reckon we should go out after them?' Phil asked.

I shook my head. It was dark outside. And there were _freaking_ dragons! 'No. We're not part of this war. Let them handle it.'

'But they're us,' Phil pointed out.

'Not really. They make their own decisions,' I reminded him.

'Yeah. But she's their friend. Which means she would be _our_ friend if we knew her. Which means we should go out and try and help them.'

I sighed and glanced up at the dark, dusty ceiling. 'Look, Phil. It's nighttime out there, and there are _dragons_. I don't know if you know this, but dragons are supernatural creatures. Which means I'm slightly terrified of going outside,' I snapped. Phil snickered but gave me a look.

'Come on! We should help them. It's your fault she ran outside in the first place!'

Okay. That was a good point.

I never thought someone would die from shipping.

* * *

**End Note: Did you like it? I hoped you enjoyed!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Cass**


	6. Chapter 5: Cass

**Author's Note: Okay guys! So, I've had this stupid illness for a week-and-a-half and it STILL HASN'T GONE AWAY! Like, wow. Can it just go away? So, moving on. Introduce my glamorous dragon! (BTW, the Shadow Dragon is now my idea so please don't steal it as I am going to use it in a book I plan to publish one day.)**

* * *

_Cass_

* * *

I stood only a few yards/meters from the door back inside, but my Dan and Phil would take several minutes to figure that out and find me. I was standing with my eyes locked on two amber pinpricks of light closer to me than was comfortable during the war. They were the eyes of the Chilean Shadow Dragon.

Yes, I knew how to draw it out. Dragons aren't much different from unicorns when it comes to "young maidens". And a teenager who still didn't have her first kiss pretty much counted as a maiden. So singing a Disney song made the dragon come right to me.

"Cass‽" my Dan was shouting through the shadows. He couldn't see me. I knew he didn't much like venturing out into the dark, but if Phil or I asked him to, he'd come with us into the night—as long as one of us had a flashlight—or a torch as my British boys called it. "Come back! The dragons are still out!" I was completely ignoring him in favor of finishing my song and getting closer to the Shadow Dragon. Memories of Eldrid and I hiding in caves when we were younger for no reason other than fun flashed through my head. "No!"

A strong shove pushed me to the ground. It was Dan. I rolled my eyes.

The dragon lunged at my friend for interrupting my song, jaws gaping open to swallow the tall young man in one bite.

Reacting without thinking, I swung my leg and knocked Dan's feet out from under him, sending him crashing down next to me and narrowly missing getting eaten. A loud curse of pain as his backside hit the pavement was all but drowned out in the sound of the Shadow Dragon's wings as it took off. I smacked Dan upside the head.

"Are you daft‽" I demanded. "I had him! I was going to knock him out so the day could come back and we could get the other Dan and Phil _home!"_

"You didn't see that _oversized lizard_ from my angle! He was getting ready to eat you!" he exclaimed.

"No! He was ready to eat _you_ because you interrupted my singing!" I retorted. I didn't have the best singing voice on the planet, but that didn't matter to a dragon. Eldrid told me once that a young maiden could be completely tone-deaf and a dragon would still come to her call. In my case my call was a Disney song but goshdarnit I grew up with Disney and I freaking loved it. I would summon a dragon with "Let It Go" if I dang-well pleased. Even though I didn't this time. I was singing "You'll Be in My Heart," from _Tarzan_—a particular favorite of mine.

"That's it! We're going back inside!" my Dan snapped, moving to grab my wrist.

"Now _kiss!"_ three simultaneous voices chorused. I whirled—sending my braid slapping against Dan's chest—to see both Phils and the other Dan standing near the doorway back inside with grins all over their faces. Other Dan was laughing. I always loved Dan's laugh. He always sounded genuinely amused. My Dan was glaring at them. My Phil put his hands up.

"Hey, I was just going to do it quietly, but they shouted it themselves," he remarked. Other Dan and Phil snickered and smirked.

The _extremely bloody American teenage girl _part of me was shouting to give them a show and grab Dan's shirt or jacket and actually kiss him. But the practical part of me knew that I would end up with a blush the color of a ripe strawberry on my face and embarrassment coursing through my veins. And, as usual, that side of my head won and I didn't do anything. The other side of my mind groaned with disappointment as my Dan grabbed my wrist and dragged me back in.

* * *

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully. I could see other Dan and Phil occasionally casting the three of us sideways glances and then chuckling, but I didn't want to know what they were thinking. I was still fuming with anger for my Dan screwing up my plan to get the alternate young men home. At some point in what _should_ have been the evening (but the light hadn't changed all day), I went down into the bunker and collapsed on my small air mattress. My Phil came down and joined me a few minutes later, rifling through his duffel bag for something. Probably a deck of cards or some other form of entertainment.

When he'd found it and put it in his pocket, he crossed over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "The other Dan was just trying to make us laugh, Cassie," he informed me. "Thought we could use some humor because of the war."

"Yeah, but it wasn't just those two thinking 'Now kiss!' was it?" I retorted, shooting him one of my best glares. He shrugged with a _fair point_ look on his face.

"Touché," he remarked. He gave me a final pat on the head and retreated back up the stairs. I didn't know why we were staying upstairs to be honest. The bunker was more comfortable and better furnished. Maybe it was just because we were surface creatures by habit or we liked the light. I personally enjoyed the darkness of the bunker and liked lying on my air mattress remembering the past. Dan and Phil didn't. I knew I needed the light for vitamin D and all that health stuff, but that didn't stop me from _loving_ nighttime.

About an hour later, I had drifted off to sleep, mind falling back on the memories of Eldrid, me, and my human best friend from home running down the road and playing. I missed them both so much I didn't even want to think about it. I hadn't seen any of my loved ones for a year. Cut off like that I felt like I was going to shrivel up into some husk of my former self. Sure I had found brothers in Dan and Phil, but I still missed those I'd known my entire existence.

_Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!_ I'm not sure how many hours later it was that I jolted awake. That was the Master's drumbeat from Doctor Who. My Dan was on watch. The others were all asleep. My initial thought was because Dan was a tapper, he was the one doing the four beats. But he was looking around with an expression as confused as mine.

"Well, dragons don't knock," I remarked, rolling off my air mattress—still fully dressed—and heading over to the sealed door.

"Cass! Be careful," Dan hissed.

"Dragons don't knock," I repeated.

"That's not what I mean. There are two Dan and Phils. How are you going to explain this to whoever's outside the door?"

I shrugged. "I'll think of something. The truth generally works the best."

Dan rolled his eyes as I opened the peephole and peered through it. My jaw felt like falling off.

I yanked the door open to a familiar face smiling at me.

"Monty!" I exclaimed.

* * *

**End Note: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!**

**~Cass**


	7. Chapter 6: Dan

**Author's Note: Fan-_tas-_tic! A new chapter! Thank you, callieandjack, for being my only reviewer thus far. I hope everyone else who reads this likes it too!**

* * *

_Dan_

* * *

Cass's high-pitched shriek of excitement woke me up a mere two hours after I'd gone to sleep. I rolled over in my sleeping bag to see the quite short American girl throwing her arms around a girl several inches taller than her—who didn't look too pleased to be hugged but happy to see her—with shorter brown hair, pale skin, and dark blue eyes. She was wearing a T-shirt, cargo pants, trainers, and a gray jacket.

Dragon-Dan was just as confused as I was. 'Who's this?' he asked, sounding a bit defensive.

Cass pulled the doors closed again and turned back to Dan with a grin the size of a galaxy on her face. 'This is Tanmore Montgomery—better known as Monty. She's my best human friend from home,' she answered. 'I'm sure I've mentioned her at some point.'

Dragon-me nodded, still looking lost. 'Okay.'

Cass twisted so she was facing Monty. No one had noticed I was awake. 'So how'd you get here?' she asked.

Monty grinned. 'Eldrid's upstairs.'

Cass's face went both slack and pale. 'You're not serious.'

'I'm dead serious.'

I rolled out of bed just as Cass shot a shocked but elated glance at dragon-Dan and took off up the stairs. Monty, dragon-Dan, and I all looked at each other for a moment before taking off after her. I loved how Monty didn't even question the fact that there were two Dans. She probably just thought we were twins. We were all taller than Cass, but none of us liked going up the stairs more than one at a time, and she was taking two steps in one stride. Her long hair bounced behind her and she was gone before we were even halfway up.

'Cass!' the three of us shouted after her.

'Is she always like this?' I asked.

Monty and dragon-Dan both nodded. 'Yup,' they answered in complete unison.

'Cass Charging-Off is what we call her at home,' Monty remarked as we finally reached the top of the steps. The door was swinging shut. And I saw it as a challenge. So did dragon-Dan. We both rushed for it and slipped through before it closed completely. Monty carefully let herself out of it.

A massive deep blue dragon with dark red and bright white accents stood a mere few metres from the door. There was a curtain of brown and black hanging from around its scaly neck.

Oh wait. No there wasn't. That was Cass. Her arms were around it and its head was curled around her. I could tell by the shaking of her shoulders that she was crying. Her shirt and jacket had slipped just enough to show the top of her scar glistening in the poor light of the nighttime. Dragon-Dan and I looked at each other, feeling equal amounts of apprehension.

'Oh Eldrid,' I could hear Cass whispering, voice quivering. 'I've missed you so much!'

The dragon's wings shuffled through the air. 'I've missed you too, Cass,' he replied. His voice wasn't as deep and gravelly as Benedict Cumberbatch's Smaug, but it was quite a bit deeper than mine. I watched her arms squeeze around the dragon as best as she could before releasing him, but keeping one arm around his neck.

'Why did you come here now?'

'We felt something. Something was wrong here,' Eldrid replied. I blinked.

'When?' dragon-world-me asked.

'About two days ago,' Monty answered.

I cleared my throat. 'I uh… I think I know why,' I put in.

The dragon and the other American girl gave me confused looks. 'Why?' Monty inquired.

My eyes flicked over to dragon-Dan. I jerked my thumb in his direction. 'I'm him,' I said.

'What?' Monty looked really confused. Cass was scratching at an itch on her forehead with her thumbnail and carefully examining her Converse hi-tops' white toes.

Dragon-Dan and I put our hands out. The other me put out his right hand, and I put out my left hand, crossing my arm over his since I was on his right side. 'Hello,' we both chorused, sounding eerily like one voice. 'I'm Dan Howell.' Monty looked between us for a moment before shaking our hands with both of hers, looking extremely perplexed.

'How the heck—‽' Monty demanded.

Cass laughed. I liked her laugh. It sounded like she thought something was really legitimately funny. 'You remember the portal cannon your dad would never let us play with that opened into the dragon-less alternate reality?' she asked. Monty nodded slowly. 'Well, he and his best friend stumbled through a portal after he accidentally dropped a plastic llama toy through one and it hit me in the head.' My mouth dropped open.

'I did not! I already told you I don't _own_ a bloody plastic llama!' I protested. She smirked and shot me a wink. 'I don't!'

'Whatever makes you feel better, honeybunch,' she replied sarcastically.

Something about the deadpan delivery of her sass probably should have made me angry. Instead, since it was such intense British humour, I started laughing. Her smirk only grew wider.

'Well, a plastic llama certainly sounds like you,' normal-Phil remarked, coming outside with messy hair. Dragon-Phil came out after him, but a bit slower because he was putting a contact lens in his eye. Monty looked back and forth between the two of them with a _'Not again!'_ expression on her face.

'There's more‽' she asked.

'Just those two,' I answered. 'That's Phil Lester, by the way.'

'Hi,' both of them greeted. Normal-Phil was yawning through it, making me snicker. Because I'm _very mature._

'Hello. I'm Monty. I'm Cass's friend from home.'

'Are you taking her away from us?' dragon-Phil asked, suddenly sounding sad.

Monty nodded. 'That's the plan. She's been here long enough and her parents are worried sick.' Dragon-me was shaking his head, fringe bouncing slightly.

'You can't take her yet,' he informed Monty.

'Why not?'

'Because Eldrid flew you here and he needs to rest before carrying two people across the Atlantic.'

'An eighteen-year-old dragon is much stronger than an eighteen-year-old human,' Eldrid pointed out with a _holier than thou_ type of tone. At about this point I started to feel like the awkward social outcast. But at the same time having an out-of-body experience because I was watching myself argue with a _freaking_ _dragon_.

'Yeah, I know that,' other me retorted. 'But the Atlantic Ocean is big and you _litrally_ just got here. You can wait for two days to get your strength back. Besides, Cass won't leave until she knocks out the Shadow Dragon and sends those two back home.'

Eldrid's eyes widened—it looked really weird on a dragon. 'There's a Shadow Dragon here?'

'Yeah,' Cass answered, inserting herself back into the conversation. 'It came this morning. The portal cannon can't aim during the night because it's too dark, so we can't send these two back to their own flippin' dimension. But Dan's right. I've been here too long to just give up now. I'm not going home until the other Dan and Phil get back safely. These two—' She gestured to dragon-Dan and dragon-Phil. '—are like family to me. Just like you two are.' Her head nodded at Monty and the dragon.

'Can we talk to you… alone, Cass?' Monty asked, indicating her and Eldrid.

'Sure. Would you four head inside?' Cass gave us a look with her eyebrows raised.

'Oh. Uh… yeah,' dragon-me mumbled. He started to head back to the door. Phil, dragon-Phil, and me followed him. I noticed him shoot a glance over his shoulder at Cass. His eyes flicked up to the tall dragon head leering over us all.

'What now?' Phil asked.

'We eavesdrop,' dragon-Dan suggested sarcastically.

'No. Let's not,' dragon-Phil countered. 'They haven't seen each other in a year. Give them a while to catch up.'

'I doubt they'll just be catching up,' I added.

'What do you mean?' dragon-Phil inquired.

'That Montgomery girl looked suspicious about something.'

'Well, I don't care what you think, I'm listening in,' dragon-me remarked.

* * *

**End Note: Oooooooooooooooh! What kind of shenanigans are they gonna overhear? Well, I know. But I can't tell you yet can I? Spoilers!**

**Oh, by the way, I might rename this later. Given that when Dan and Phil are talking about FanFics involving them, they're always titled "The (Insert Some One-Word Thing that is relevant to the plot here) Fic". So this one is "The Dragon Fic." I guess. Maybe "The Portal Fic." I don't really care. Just thought I'd mention I might change the title from "Inter-Dimensional Portal" later. It's kind of a mouthful...**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Cass**


	8. Chapter 7: Cass

**Author's Note: New chapter! This is one of my favorite ones. The conversation between Monty and Cass highly resembles the conversations I have with my own best friend. I hope you guys like it!**

* * *

_Cass_

* * *

"What is going on?" Monty demanded.

"I'm the one that launched the portal that dumped those two here in the first place. I feel responsible for whatever happens to them. I can't just leave them here and go home. This is my fault!" I answered.

"Is that the only reason you're staying?" Eldrid asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you find another reason to stay in London?"

"Stop being so bloody cryptic and out with it!" I snapped.

"Eldrid…" Monty said slowly. "She's gone British."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I haven't. Just tell me what you're thinking. I'm not a mind-reader for pity's sake!"

Eldrid leaned his big blue head down until it was almost at my eye-level. His red-and-white eyes looked steadily at me. I could feel his warm breath blowing my hair and clothing back as he thought of a delicate way to put his question. "Have you found _someone_ to stay for?" he finally managed. My eyebrows lifted higher up my forehead.

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be affronted or not. "_No!"_ I exclaimed.

"You like Dan don't you?" Monty stated, using her usual blunt best-friend tact.

"What makes you think that?" I demanded, running my hands through my hair distressedly.

Monty shook her head. "You act like I didn't see the way you looked at him," she remarked.

"Right. Because I haven't faced enough ridicule today about the fact that Dan, Phil, and I have been living in an underground bunker together for the past year and because of that _yes_, we care for each other. But it's not like that! It's because all three of us are looking out for each other because we want to come out of this stupid war in one piece—however damaged we might be. I am not in love with Dan Howell!" I ranted, voice getting louder as I got angrier. "And if you want me to say I'm in love with him, so be it but I'm not! And the other Dan already gave me crap about it today that made me so angry I called the Shadow Dragon almost then-and-there to take care of it, return the daylight, and send the insolent peasant back home!"

Monty turned to Eldrid. "Did she just say 'I'm in love with Dan Howell'?"

"She might have."

I love how out of all of that, the one thing they heard was the one thing they wanted to hear.

"Look, you two: you're my best friends," I started. "And I would take a bullet for you a thousand times over. And I know that it's your job to tease me about my nonexistent love-life, but now is not the time! I just want to get the other Dan and Phil home so _I_ can get home. Right now, that's the only thing keeping me in London. I swear." Ouch. I just realized what that must have sounded like to my Dan and Phil if they were listening. "But I don't want to leave my Dan and Phil alone either. Without me they'd probably forget to seal the doors or something. We depend on each other and we've been through the entire war together." Monty looked at me.

"So you _have_ found someone to stay for," she commented.

I put my forehead in my palm. "If you want to put it like that, yes. But it's just because London's all I know of this war. If I went home now I'd probably end up with culture shock."

"Culture shock is better than being eaten," Monty remarked.

"Hey!" Eldrid protested.

"Sorry. But these are British dragons!"

"Actually, the one leading the attacks has been a Russian Spark," I told them.

"A _Russian Spark?"_ Eldrid demanded. "We have to get home _now!_ It's a miracle you've survived this long against one!"

"Exactly!" I exclaimed. "If I leave now, Dan and Phil might die! And that would _kill_ me."

"You're overreacting," Monty said.

"No I'm not," I retorted. "I owe it to them to stay."

"You owe it to _us_ to come home!" Eldrid protested. "There's no way you'll survive much longer against a Russian Spark." I shook my head quickly, hair bouncing between my shoulders. I took a chunk of it and twisted it around my fingers nervously.

"I can't. I can't abandon them."

"We're not going to come back for you," Monty warned. "We can't stay long as it is."

I nodded. "I understand. Once the war's over I can take a plane home."

"And how long will that be?" Eldrid demanded. "How long do you think this war is going to last? It's already gone on for a year. And neither side is relenting." His massive head came down and his eyes narrowed at me. "It's not just us you've abandoned you know. Think about your parents. Think about your grandparents. About Jynx, Snowflake, Cupcake, Herb, your cousins—think about them. They all miss you as much as we do."

"You didn't tell my parents you came to find me did you?" I asked with a smirk in my tone. "You thought you'd come back triumphantly with me safe and sound and give them a surprise didn't you? That's why you can't stay long. Because nobody knows you're gone."

"Cass…" Monty started.

"You're right," Eldrid interrupted. "We had a plan to bring you home. The second we felt something go wrong over here we took off and decided to keep you safe from the danger. But that plan no longer matters since you were the one that caused the danger." I could see fire building in Eldrid's lower stomach. Something told me he was angry. Knowing him for our whole lives helped I'm sure. I sighed and looked out at the darkness. An angry beast was going to come through soon and try to torch us. I was sure of it. Mostly.

"Dan and Phil aren't dangerous," I replied gently. "They're innocent of this bloodshed and want to go home. I want to go home too, but I can't just leave. I'm responsible for their lives—for both sets of their lives. And it's not like we can take them with us." I stopped as an unreadable expression passed over Monty's face. "We can't take them with us. No matter what, Eldrid, you're not strong enough."

"How would you know? You've been away for a year," my best dragon friend retorted.

"Because I know more about dragons than I do about people. And _no_ dragon under thirty is strong enough to carry six people." Eldrid's wings flared indignantly, sending dust and ashes from the previous night's attack flying into my face. "Even if we got the other Dan and Phil home, there'd be four of us. And I'm sorry, but I don't think you're ready. We're not exactly feathers and the Atlantic Ocean is big. You couldn't carry us the entire way. It could exhaust you and then we'd all go to a watery grave."

It was always annoying when people wouldn't see sense and I didn't have the physical strength to beat it into them.

Pain suddenly flared in my back. Burning, searing agony—like my clothes were on fire. I cried out and collapsed on the ground, pulling at my jacket and shirt to make my skin hit the cooler night air. Panting, I managed to get the collar down just far enough for my fingers to brush the scar near my shoulder. And therein laid my problem.

The dragon was on fire.

* * *

**End Note: Whaaaaaaaaaat? (Well, I know, but I can't tell you!)**

**Thank you so much for reading! It means so much to me!**

**~Cass**

**PS: In the next couple minutes I'm going to be putting up a new Dan and Phil fic called Time Trap. Be sure to check it out if you're interested. (AKA The Time Fic.)(Phan is BROTP) I think it's actually slightly better/faster paced than this one!**


	9. Chapter 8: Dan

**Author's Note: This one was interesting to write. I enjoy this story so much and I sincerely hope you guys do too.**

* * *

_Dan_

* * *

'CASS!' dragon-me and dragon-Phil shouted in unison as the girl's shriek echoed through the air, bursting out of the building we were in—which I had finally figured out was an apartment building that looked remarkably like the one Phil and I lived in back in our world. Phil and I rushed out after them. Now I don't really like running, but the dragon and two Americans weren't very far away so it wasn't too bad.

Cass was in a heap on the ground, fingers clawing at her back where the cool-looking dragon scar was. Dragon-Phil reached her first and pried her fingers away as dragon-Dan examined the scar and tried to soothe her. The tissue was glowing like fire against her paling skin. Normal-Phil looked stunned as we skidded to a halt behind them. He looked up at Eldrid. 'What did you do to her?' he demanded, sounding both confused and hurt.

'I haven't done anything,' the huge American dragon replied, shaking his head. Monty was standing a few feet away, looking completely shell-shocked.

'What do we do?' I asked no one in particular as Cass clenched her hands into fists in the fabric of her shirt. Dragon-Phil brushed her massive mane of hair out of the way and deposited most of the over two feet of it on dragon-Dan's lap. He carefully placed his fingers on the glowing scar tissue that cast shadows up his face.

Cass grunted in pain so I'm guessing it didn't really help.

'Water. Put water on it,' normal-Phil suggested. Monty nodded and ran off to the apartment building. I didn't know it very well, but I was pretty sure I knew it better than she did, so I followed her. She ignored me completely as we both searched. I went down into the bunker while she remained in the main structure. I looked through wall panel cupboards and between all the air mattresses. And I decided that when I got back to my own world I was going to look for a secret bunker under our building because this was actually pretty cool.

Finally I found a bottle of water that was remarkably cold hiding in the darkest corner of the room and bolted back up the stairs. Panting, I rushed out the door and gave it to the dragon-world-version of me. He gave me a quick nod of thanks before pulling a cloth out of his pocket and soaking it with the water.

He was wringing it out over her old wound as Monty came back out. As soon as the excess water was dripping into her shirt, he pressed the cloth to the scar.

Steam started to rise from her skin. 'What is happening to her?' I whispered.

Monty shook her head sadly. 'It's the power of a Russian Spark,' she replied. 'They can make any injury inflicted by a dragon burn. I've heard stories of something like this killing someone when they had a burn that covered their entire body.'

'She'll be okay, though, right?' Phil asked.

Eldrid nodded his massive scaly head and sent his wings fluttering. 'She's strong enough to withstand it,' he answered. 'The injury I gave to her is as small as it is for a purpose. I figured that one day she'd be facing a Spark and I couldn't deal her any more pain than I had already caused. But part of the dragon society says we should "leave our mark" on a human if we hatched at the same time they were born and bonded with them. So that is exactly what I did. A mark to say I'd always be there for her.' I couldn't tell if that was slightly weird… or strangely kind of cute.

'So how does a Russian dragon end up in London?' I inquired, looking around at the assorted group.

'Well, dragons aren't bound by human borders,' Monty started. 'They can go anywhere in the world. Humans based their names on where they saw them the most. Sparks are mostly found in Russia, but there is a certain breed of Frost Dragon that hardly ever leaves Siberia. Creatively named the Siberian Frost Dragon.' I had already associated American sarcasm with Cass, so hearing Monty use it was a bit bizarre. 'Eldrid is called the American Fire dragon because most of his particular red-white-and-blue breed lives in America. Though there have been sightings in Australia and India and whatnot.' She paused for a moment. 'Of course, in some places, there is only one dragon of its kind and it reproduces like a phoenix would if they actually existed.'

'Like…?' I prompted.

'In Wales, there is one called the Welsh Red. And England has one called the English White.'

'Like the ones from the Arthurian Legend,' Phil said, realization dawning on his face.

Monty bit her lip. 'Yeah. That was our world's fault. The ancient Red and White slipped through a portal while the cannon's handler wasn't looking. Nearly killed half of Albion,' she admitted. 'According to our legends, it took three hundred people to lure them back into our world.'

'How much time do you people spend in our reality?' I asked.

'Well, since we have access to it, quite a lot. We love your culture. I'm sure Cass mentioned that she once spent a whole summer in your dimension. She only came back here to sleep.'

'So, Cass said that a Russian Spark is leading the attacks, but she also said the first dragon came down from Scotland,' Phil remarked. He'd turned his attention from Monty—who probably didn't know much about how the war on Britain's side started—to dragon-Phil and dragon-me. Dragon-Phil scratched the back of his head.

'True. Scottish dragons are a lot like Scottish people. Fiery and feisty,' he replied.

'So basically Cass in a nutshell,' dragon-me added.

The assembled group minus Cass all snickered at that. She was a little too busy putting more water on her smoldering scar and wincing as steam hissed and rose from her skin.

'But the first dragon that came down from Scotland was the Russian Spark. Closely followed by a weyr of Scottish dragons,' dragon-Phil finished. He caught something he'd said and put his hand up. 'A weyr is what a group of dragons is called. Like a murder of ravens or a parliament of owls. Sometimes they're also called a flight or a rage.'

'… Right,' I remarked.

'Have you guys forgotten that I'm here—in all of your discussing of dragon-lore?' Cass demanded irritably.

'Way to ruin a good exposition,' dragon-me retorted.

'This isn't a book, Dan,' Cass snapped. 'This is real.'

'Now _kiss!' _Monty exclaimed.

* * *

**End Note: Oooooooooooooh! Is that ever gonna happen? I literally wrote that last line because it's _exactly_ what my best friend Monty would say. And when she read it, she looked at me and said, "That's totally what I was thinking!" (Actually it was several weeks ago so I don't remember the precise words, but it was something to that effect.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Cass**


	10. Chapter 9: Cass

**Author's Note: I haven't updated this in ages. Oooooops. Sorry. I do feel bad.**

* * *

_Cass_

* * *

Hot rage and mildly-uncomfortable-sort-of-lukewarm embarrassment made my face flush the color of a ripe apple. My Dan's hand was still resting on my shoulder—which prevented me from getting up and strangling Monty then and there (in hindsight that was probably a good thing). So I stayed down on the uncomfortable pavement and rubbed the soaked cloth over the scar again as the pain flared up with my eyes narrowed in an unveiled threat.

Other Dan's face almost made it worth it though. His mouth was hanging open in both shock and surprise. "_See,_ Cass?" he asked, nudging me in the back. "It seems like everyone ships you two except you two."

Never mind. Not worth it.

Had he been in the range of my kinda short arms, I would have swatted him. As it was, he was annoyingly just out of reach. "I _will_ punch you," I snapped, wincing in pain as I sat up and shook my braid off my shoulder. My Dan tried to force me back down—with the beginning of a protest on his mouth that I wasn't well enough to move yet—but I slapped his hand away. "If you think I'm going to lie with my face pressed against this dirty pavement for one more minute, you are sorely mistaken Mr. Howell." He put his hands up in surrender. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a shower."

* * *

I was extremely grateful that the apartment building the bunker was under still had running water. I stood under the cold rain, listening to the bizarre silence of the night. It was rare to not shower or fall asleep to roaring dragons and the whooshing of their powerful wings. Dragons were superior to humans in many ways. I was surprised that Dan, Phil, and I had survived this long. We'd heard over the radio a few days before that the worst concentration of attacks was in London—probably because of that stupid flippin' Russian Spark—and it had the most casualties. So I could afford to not worry so much about Monty. Eldrid would keep her safe for my sake and they were _really_ out of the way. The town I grew up in was in its own little bubble where it seemed like everyone knew everyone (except me and a couple of my friends since we were massive nerds/loners). I doubted any of the dragons would even care about my hometown.

The water ran over my scar and added to the steam. As soon as I was properly soaked, I undid my braid and shook my head, sending water everywhere.

About a half hour later I slid out, got dry and dressed, and went back downstairs with my hair soaked. I was really tired and not in the mood to braid it, so when the others asked me what I was thinking about, I replied, "Go to bed." Other Dan snorted. "Well, if you don't remember, our sleep was interrupted by Miss Montgomery there and we all need it." I turned to Eldrid. "Just outside of town there's a home with a large property where you can sleep—"

"I'm staying here," my best dragon friend interjected. "I'm going to watch over you."

"No!" I protested. "If that Spark thinks you're a human-sympathizer he'll kill you—gruesomely. And I don't want to know what that would do to me."

"Well, I don't imagine it would be much since you don't even want to come home," he muttered.

I took a deep, steadying breath to keep from trying to injure him in some way. "Eldrid, we went over this. I only want to stay for Dan and Phil." Since both sets were watching me (and I wasn't informed until later that they had been listening in) I was very careful about how I worded things. "I promise that I want to come home more than anything, but I have responsibilities and obligations here," I continued.

The ridge above Eldrid's eye, that would have been his eyebrow if he was human, arched. He shuffled on his four legs and flicked his wings. "Alright. I believe you. But we don't want to leave you any more than you want to leave them." I made a sad expression and wrapped my arms around his long neck.

"I know. But Monty needs to get home. And you can come get me once the war's over. I won't leave here."

"Assuming we all survive," my Dan muttered under his breath.

I whirled around to glare at him. "We will," I retorted.

My Dan stood up. "How can you be sure?"

"Because I have faith."

I was expecting another, "Now kiss!" but instead I got, "Faith? Faith is good," other Phil remarked. His hopeful smile helped to alleviate the contention brewing between the assorted group slightly.

"You _really_ want to be the only girl in a group of four guys?" Monty whispered into my ear.

"No. But soon the other Dan and Phil will be home. Then all I have to do is keep my Dan and Phil alive until the war ends—and the news on the radio says it should be soon," I replied. "Then I can come home. And who knows, I may never see Dan and Phil again."

"Yeah like that's gonna happen," Monty muttered sarcastically. "You literally just referred to them as '_your_' Dan and Phil."

I put my forehead on my fingertips. "That's how I have to differentiate them in my head," I grumbled. "That's it. I'm going to bed. Night guys!" I turned toward the bunker doors and walked off. I heard a few shuffles as the others stood up and looked at each other wondering if they should follow me and get some sleep too.

The first footsteps I heard tailing me came from Converse. I smirked. Dan. I wasn't sure which one, but it was definitely Dan. It amused me to no end that he stubbornly refused to wear boots during the war. He just kept on wearing his sneakers (oh sorry, _trainers_ for all you British people) and hi-tops.

Downstairs, I hid behind the curtain and quickly changed into my pajamas I took a sponge from one of the supply bins, soaked it, and pressed it against my back in an attempt to diminish the pain one final time before settling down for bed. I noticed a black leather jacket out of the corner of my eye—a damaged one.

My Dan.

* * *

**End Note: Hm. Honestly it's been so long since I wrote this I don't remember what happens next.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**~Cass**


	11. Chapter 10: Dan

**Author's Note: I keep forgetting about this story. Oops.**

* * *

_Dan_

* * *

As soon as Cass and the other me went downstairs, the rest of us bid our farewells to Eldrid and locked up the apartment building for the night. When that was finished, the four of us followed them down. 'Ten pounds they're passionately making out,' I joked.

Monty snorted. 'Cass isn't like that. If we embarrassed her that bad she wouldn't prove us right. She's probably completely ignoring him in favour of spiting us,' she informed me. I shrugged.

We reached the bottom of the steps to see Cass in her sleeping bag in the middle of the room with her back to the door, scar still pulsing with light. Dragon-Dan was sitting on his air mattress with a book in his hands. It looked like a manga since he appeared to be reading it backwards. Or he was just pretending to read it and hoping we wouldn't notice.

'Hey guys!' normal-Phil greeted.

Cass remained silent while dragon-Dan gave us a wave and kept reading. Monty took one of the free air mattresses in the corner and changed into her pyjamas behind the curtain. We took our spots around the bunker and started to settle in for the night. Dragon-Dan offered to take the first watch and no one protested so he took up the position in front of the door with one of the lanterns right next to him. He continued to read, and slowly, I dropped off to sleep.

_I was back home, sitting in my chair in front of the camera, waffling about whatever was coming to mind. 'And in other news, I went to an alternate reality that had versions of me and Phil as well as dragons and an American girl who had a scar the shape of a dragon on her back.'_

_ 'Dan? Have you seen the other PS4 controller? I can't find it!' Phil called out. I turned around in my chair with a roll of my eyes._

_ 'It should be in the lounge on top of the PS4,' I retorted sarcastically._

_ 'Well it's not.'_

_ 'Then look in the office,' I suggested._

_ 'I did!' he exclaimed._

_ 'Maybe you ought to check in the refrigerator!'_

_ 'Why would it be there?'_

_ 'Because I read somewhere that putting batteries in the fridge keeps their charge better. I might have tested it out. I can't remember,' I answered. I could practically hear Phil's eye-roll from the hallway and his feet retreating towards the kitchen._

_ 'Found it!'_

_ 'Was it in the fridge?' I asked, not even noticing that the camera was still recording._

_ 'No it was in the hall. I almost tripped on it,' Phil replied._

_ 'Why on earth was it in the hallway?'_

_ 'I'm not sure. It might have been my fault.'_

_ 'Ooooookay,' I muttered._

The dream was so real that I didn't realize it was a dream until I woke up to voices. They were eerily familiar. In fact, they sounded like me and Phil. 'So… Cass,' Phil said.

This time, I could practically hear my own alternate version's eye-roll. 'What about her?'

'What if she leaves when the other two get home?'

'What if she does?'

'What do you think that'll mean for us? I mean, she's right, we _have_ gone through this entire war together.'

'She has her own home to go to. She's spent all this time around our home. Maybe it's time to send her back,' dragon-me replied with a shrug in his voice. 'That'll mean we'll just finish the war without her. Yeah it'll be lonelier with just the two of us down here in the dark, but if she wants to go home, so be it. I'm not going to ask her to stay. Think about it. She hasn't seen her entire family and all of her friends in a year. We've had the advantage of living on a tiny island where we _can_ go and check to make sure our loved ones are still safe. She's an entire ocean—and half her _country_—away from her own bed and her parents.'

I shuffled in my sleeping bag slightly to peek at what they were doing because I could hear a strange rhythm made by some noise I couldn't quite make out. The two were sitting near the door about two metres apart bouncing a black-and-white football between them. Occasionally one would glance at the sealed doors that separated us from rampaging mythical beasts.

'I guess I understand that. I'll miss her though,' dragon-Phil muttered. 'But what if we forget to seal the door? We've done that so many times that without her we probably would have _died_ like ten times over!' I couldn't help but snicker silently. Overreacting was amusing.

'I'll miss her too you know,' dragon-world-Dan remarked. 'She brings a… certain humour to this gloomy place.'

'Oooh!' I exclaimed quietly, sitting up and pulling out of my sleeping bag. 'What kind of humour? Flirty?' Part of that was meant as a joke, but the other part me was genuinely curious. _Plus_ it wasn't every day I got to tease myself about my love life. I was still getting used to that to be honest.

The other me went a bit red. 'No. I'm just saying she ought to be British. She has a very dry, sarcastic sense of humour and I think it's genuinely funny,' he replied, being careful about his word choice and speaking slowly. Dragon-Phil and I both gave him extremely sarcastic looks and the red on his face darkened.

'Uh-huh,' dragon-Phil muttered sarcastically.

'Phil, don't even start,' dragon-me warned. 'Last time you tried to joke with me and Cass about our non-existent lovey-dovey relationship, you ended up with your face on the bunker floor and Cass piling the air mattresses on top of you.'

'You helped,' Phil reminded him.

'Well _yeah,'_ dragon-me retorted. 'She's five-foot-one—it's not like she's tall enough to get _all_ the mattresses on top of each other, let alone on top of you.'

Phil didn't look amused. He rolled his eyes while I smirked and went over and sat in a position that made us in a triangle. So the football stopped bouncing and started rolling so we wouldn't wake Cass, Monty, and normal-Phil. 'You're so immature,' dragon-Phil muttered whilst dragon-world-Dan smirked widely and did a cheesy little dance.

'Who ever said I wasn't?' the other me demanded.

* * *

**End Note: Hahaha. These guys.**

**Thanks for reading!**


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